In 1304, after a failed arbitration attempt between competing aristocratic factions by the Cardinal of Prato, Florence was ravaged by a fire. Contemporary witnesses later estimated between 1700 and 1900 buildings burned. The gruesome details are recounted in two contemporary chronicles, Giovanni Villani’s Nuova Cronica and Dino Compagni’s Cronica, and two subsequent histories, Leonardo Bruni’s [...]

